Beto O’Rourke’s campaign sued over unwanted text messages

A Texas resident sued Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D) campaign for U.S. Senate because of campaign text messages sent ahead of the midterm elections.

A class-action lawsuit was filed against the Beto for Texas campaign by Sameer Syeed on Friday, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Syeed argues in the lawsuit that the campaign has violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The law bans automated telephone equipment being used to send calls or texts to people’s cellphones without their permission — except for emergencies.{mosads}

Syeed says he received nine messages from the organization without giving the campaign permission to contact him, according to the newspaper.

He is demanding at least $500 per text message for him and all Texans who received the unwanted texts. 

Syeed tried calling the phone number and texting back to get the messages to stop, but the number was disconnected and he never received a response.

Chris Evans, communications director of Beto for Texas, told the newspaper that the campaign’s phone program is legal.

“Our grass-roots volunteer program with thousands of Texans canvassing, phone banking, texting and organizing is the largest this state has seen. It is fully compliant with the law,” he said.